King Takes Rook

by A. L. Kessler

  "What do the police think?" Mario asked.

  Levi shook his head. "They have to do an investigation. If they find something odd, they'll call PIB. I'm not sure if there will be anything left for them to find."

  "This has you shaken?" Mario stood from his chair.

  Levi nodded. "It does because it could have killed all three of us. Abigail chose to flee instead of use a circle to protect herself. That tells me that she wasn't confident that her magic could protect her."

  "So we're dealing with someone powerful. That's nothing new."

  Levi growled. "It means that someone that powerful was able to get that close to Abby. That is the problem here."

  Mario held his hands up. "You were just saying earlier how Abigail was able to handle herself and you weren't worried about Ira and any threats he was making."

  "I don't think this was Ira. I'm thinking Cult. I just want to know why." Levi sighed. "During the day, I need to make some calls to get the house ready for Abigail and make sure that it's livable."

  Mario hesitated slightly. "Is that what you really want?"

  "It might be time for her to live in the house. Make it her home and not a shrine to Elizabeth." Levi thought about how Abigail's room still had toys strewn about. "Abby's an adult now. She should have this last gift left from her parents."

  Mario bowed his head. "Let me know how I can help and I will."

  "I'll get it handled. Thank you." Levi sighed. "I'm going to head over there now to see what needs to be done to make it livable."

  "Be careful, if this was a trap set by Ira, he could be expecting the change of location."

  Levi hesitated. "Ira doesn't know the location of the house." Except he wasn't sure if that was true. Elizabeth had contact with Ira after Abigail was born, but he doubted that she would have put her in that much danger. He sighed and closed his eyes, taking himself to the house.

  Levi appeared in the living room of the old house. All the furniture sat covered with sheets, the only signs of people were the dusty footprints on the floor left by the contractors. Almost a year ago Abigail had discovered that the old house had runes on the wall and had the drywall replaced to make sure things remained safe.

  Levi hadn't seen the runes the night of Elizabeth's death. He'd assumed that Elizabeth and Tobias had been killed by witch hunters, not by Cult of Ra members. Guilt filled him, had he known about the runes then maybe he could have caught their killers before the trail ran cold.

  He closed his eyes against the memory of Elizabeth's and Tobias' bodies strewn about the basement floor. Elizabeth had been laying close to the stairs, while Tobias had been flipped over the back of the couch. He shook his head and started pulling sheets off the furniture. He knew Abigail would want to update what she could, but right now there was no time to order new furniture or anything for the house.

  He went through and pulled off all the sheets. Stopping at Elizabeth's and Tobias' room, he made note that he could order a bed and have his daytime people set it up for Abby, so she didn't have a twenty-year-old bed. He went to her old room next and looked at the toys scattered around.

  He bent down and picked them up one by one and put them in the toy-box that sat in the corner. For a moment he could imagine that he was picking up after his own child. He stopped when he picked up a purple and black ball. He'd given it to her for her fourth birthday.

  Sighing, he placed it in the box with the rest of the toys. He wasn't sure what to do with this room. He couldn't bear wiping away the last piece of her childhood. Turning, he left and closed the door.

  "Levi…Abigail."

  He shivered as Elizabeth's voice seemed to float through the house. He'd heard it before, but he tried to push it off as his imagination.

  "Our Abigail."

  There it was again, clear as day to him. Maybe he should call Nick and see if he would search the house for ghosts. Levi rubbed his eyes at the ridiculous idea.

  "Our Abigail…"

  The voice seemed louder this time, and he paused to listen. "What about our Abigail?"

  "Safe…you promised to keep her safe…"

  He sighed. "She is safe. She's grown. You'll see her soon, Elizabeth. Please."

  The voice didn't respond. He had to be going crazy. He shook his head and went to the kitchen to plug in the appliances, making a note to call the utility company to de-winterize the house and make sure the utilities were on for Abigail to move in. Plus insurance. He could make the phone calls, but he would need someone to stock the kitchen as well. Overall though, it didn't need too much to make it livable for her. At least as a temporary arrangement. If she decided to stay, she would be able to make the home her own.

  He put his hand against the wall. "She's safe Elizabeth," he said again. "I've kept my promise of not telling her about her origins. It's been a long road."

  There was no response, and he sighed and took himself back to his home to start making all the phone calls.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Phone calls, emails, and many hours later Levi finally laid down to sleep for what was left of the day. He closed his eyes and sighed when his phone went off. He picked it up to see Grayson Yorkingson's name on his screen. Grayson was a PIB special agent and a vampire on the council.

  Levi answered the phone. "Yes?"

  "I got a notification that someone entered the king of vampires into the PIB search engine."

  Levi sat up. "Did you trace it?"

  "I did. It was Abigail. I'm pulling up her current case right now to see what might have triggered her to search for it."

  Levi locked his jaw. "She's on a case that has ghosts involved. I know that much. Her partner has the sixth sense."

  He could hear tapping on the other side of the line. "Interesting, Nick doesn't have that listed as one of his skills."

  "Yeah, I know. She said something about an old house." Levi rubbed his eyes. "The area that the house is in is close to one Ira used to use."

  There was silence on the other end for a moment.

  "Grayson?"

  "Looks like Abigail's case has gotten a little more complicated. I expect you'll be getting a call from her soon."

  He didn't like the sound of that. "Complicated how?"

  "There's a call in here for transportation of bodies, looks like fifteen of them, also, removal of a car."

  Levi closed his eyes. "Thanks for the heads up. I'll let you know what I find out."

  The line went dead, and Levi leaned his head back. What on earth would trigger her to search for the King of Vampires? It didn't make any sense. She'd handled cases with a high body count before without having to search. Of course, stumbling on one of Ira's dumping grounds would do it.

  He lay back on the pillow and waited for the inevitable call from Abby, but what he got was a text saying that she needed him to bring the Hummer at sunset. He put his phone on the nightstand and closed his eyes to get a few minutes of sleep before Mario come in to wake him up. Chances were that Grayson had alerted the other council members about the search, and that included Mario.

  It wasn't long before Mario came knocking. Levi sat up and ran his hands over his face. "Come in Mario."

  Mario opened the door. "I'm assuming that Grayson contacted you."

  "He did." Levi pulled off his shirt. "I'm going to take a shower and get dressed, and we can deal with the situation."

  "She's searching for the King, Levi. There's no way going down this path is going to end well. You need to make a choice."

  Levi shook his head. "You can't make up your mind. You encourage me to tell her and then you backtrack and tell me not to. The last six months you've been a yo-yo on the situation."

  "I'm trying to get you to see the situation from different viewpoints." Mario crossed his arms. "If Abigail is searching for the king, it's just a matter of time until she realizes it's you. If she
hasn't already put it together."

  Levi shook his head. "Not right now. Let's see what case she's on before we assume it has to do with the king."

  "Why else would she search it?"

  Levi thought for a moment. "Maybe she got curious. There's always whisper of the king floating around PIB."

  Mario chuckled. "Keep telling yourself that, Levi. Now come. There's a long drive ahead of us, and I'm sure Abigail is itching for the car."

  Levi nodded and went to the bathroom to get ready for his night.

  Showered, dressed, and ready to go, Levi met Mario at the Hummer. Mario leaned against the passenger door. "The barkeep called again."

  "What did she want this time?"

  "She wants us to come out and check a new group of victims before she decides to burn the bodies. She's not sure if its related to the last group of blood-starved or not."

  Levi climbed into the Hummer and started it up. "And did you tell her to call PIB?"

  "She doesn't want them in the area thanks to Ira. She's afraid that it'll start a firefight." Mario got in and shut the door. "So she's calling for us to go out. Either we check it out, or she decides to burn the bodies, and there will be no evidence of what is going on in that sad excuse for a town."

  Levi sighed. "Okay, fine, we go after we drop the Hummer off with Abigail."

  "Good choice." Mario looked at him.

  "Something else on your mind?" Levi asked when the vampire didn't look away after a few moments of driving.

  Mario shook his head. "No, I'm just trying to picture what's going through your mind right now."

  "Nothing of importance. Just focusing on driving and getting to PIB in once piece."

  Mario made a noise like he didn't believe him.

  Levi tightened his hands on the steering wheel, ignoring the other vampire. There was too much going on for everything to be a coincidence, the blood-starved vampires in the no-man's land territory. Abigail's house blowing up. A case near one of Ira's old houses. His stomach tightened. He wasn't going to be able to have Abigail pulled off the case, especially with Nick, there would be no logical reason for it.

  She needed to give up the case willingly. But she was too stubborn for that.

  "You're thinking too hard." Mario broke the silence.

  Levi laughed. "I feel like someone is backing us into a corner."

  "I'm sure we are, the question is, is it Ira doing the trapping or one of his minions?" Mario shrugged. "Let's get to PIB and see what Abigail has for us."

  Mario and Levi walked into the PIB building and up to the receptionist. The dark-haired woman looked at them and smiled. "Can I help you two?"

  "We're here to see Agent Collins, she's expecting us." Levi smiled at the receptionist. This wasn't a receptionist that Levi was familiar with.

  She flipped a clipboard toward them and handed Levi a pen. "Sign in, I'll need ID's, and then I can get your badges."

  Mario made a tch noise. "If I must."

  The receptionist looked up at him. "If you don't like it, you can wait down here or leave the premises."

  Levi chuckled. "They take their security seriously here, Mario. It's best we comply."

  "I just think it's a waste of time when we simply could have popped up there unannounced."

  Levi gave him a look that clearly said to shut up.

  Mario said nothing else and handed the woman his identification card, and Levi did that same. She wrote some things down and handed them back with little white plastic clip badges that read 'visitor' on them. Levi clipped his to his collar while Mario clipped it to the pocket of his dress shirt.

  "Thank you." Levi handed her the pen and clipboard back before walking down the hall to the elevator. Mario pressed the button and waited. "A paper trail means that anyone can track you being here."

  "Sometimes a paper trail is needed. In the event that Ira has spies here, we want him to know that I'm involved with PIB. Allies in powerful areas and all that." Levi stepped into the elevator when it opened.

  Mario followed him. "We know he has spies here."

  "Exactly." Levi hit the button for the third floor. "So he knows I'm coming to visit Abby."

  Mario sighed. "Or you're leading him right to her."

  "He already knows that she works for PIB. She took down Tomes. There's no doubt about where she works." Levi shook his head. The door dinged as it opened, and he walked out with Mario at his heels.

  Levi stopped at a door with a glass window in it. Abby's office. He rapped his knuckles against the wood and waited.

  Abigail stood and let them. Levi looked her up and down noticing the smears of dirt on her clothing and her skin before he could ask her about it she spoke.

  "Before we leave, I have something to show you. I promised that it wouldn't leave PIB property." She motioned them to the desk. They walked over, and Abby pulled a picture out of a file and showed it to Levi.

  "Nick and I both know the face, but we can't put a name to it."

  Levi studied the picture and frowned. His brother stared back at him, dark hair curled over his head, and he wore a smirk Levi knew all too well. Levi's brows creased and then he looked at Mario who gave a subtle shake of his head.

  "I don't know him." Levi kept his voice blank, trying to keep all concern and worry out of it.

  "How is it that I know him, but you don't? You're the leader of this territory, and you can't put a name to him?" She put the image back. "Nick recognizes him too. That means that we've both seen him at some point."

  Was it possible that she remembered Ira from when she was an infant? But that wouldn't explain Nick. He tried to remember where else Abby and Nick had been together. "I don't know. Maybe he was at the press conference about the blood-starved vampires." Levi knew it was a shot in the dark. It was the only place that he could think of that Ira would have been. "I wasn't there."

  Abby seemed to hesitate before she answered. "Maybe." She glanced at Mario, and he shrugged one shoulder. Levi was thankful that he decided to keep his mouth shut tonight. Abby grabbed her bag by the strap. "Thank you for coming to my rescue." She started toward the door.

  "What happened to your car?" Levi asked, following her to the door.

  She stopped for a moment. "Well, turns out that if a bunch of ghosts get together, they can form a tornado and destroy things." She walked toward the elevator, and Mario and Levi followed.

  Mario's lips turned up in a smirk. "Your car was destroyed by a blanket of poltergeists?"

  "Yep. You should have seen my last two cars, puts what happened to my house to shame."

  Levi stepped up next to her. "You're smeared in dirt, don't tell me that you were in the car when it happened." He tried not to imagine her being tossed around in her car.

  "Nope. I fell into a sealed-up basement, nothing broken. I think there are a few bruises, but nothing serious." The elevator doors opened, and she walked in. "I'm okay. It's just been a rough day."

  "That's more than a rough day," Levi mumbled. Louder he added, "Your parents' house is ready for you to stay in. I had one of my daytime people go grocery shopping for you and take over some of your clothes from the mansion."

  "Thank you. I'll go over there tonight then. I'm going to call the security company and get the system transferred out there."

  That would give Levi a little peace of mind. At least she'd be protected from some threats.

  "It's out in the middle of nowhere, are you sure you need to do that?" Mario asked.

  She stared at him for a moment as if debating on how to answer that. "If you knew the number of unwelcome visitors I tend to get, you'd want that security system moved."

  "I think it's a good idea. I want you as safe as you can be." Levi walked out when the doors opened again. "The Hummer is yours until your car is taken care of. Don't blow it up."

  "To be fair, I didn't blow up this on
e. It was thrown into a field via poltergeists."

  "Don't destroy it," he corrected, and she smiled.

  "No promises." She held her hand out. "Keys? Did you move anything else out to the house? I know you have most of my dad's books at the mansion, but other than that?"

  He tossed her the keys. "I didn't. The utilities are back on for you. I was able to get it de-winterized for you during the day."

  "Thank you for going through all the hassle. It really does beat staying at a hotel."

  It hadn't been much of a hassle, but Levi really would have felt better if she had chosen to stay at home.

  Mario cleared his throat. "You know, you could always stay at the mansion."

  "I don't like strangers." She glared at Mario. "I would also rather be somewhere that's a little closer to town in case I get called on in the middle of the night."

  "Would they do that with these cases on your plate?" Mario raised a brow. "You're swamped already as an agent."

  She laughed. "We have people working on bodies twenty-four hours a day right now. This case doesn't end with paperwork and research. It ends when we have the right people in custody. I get breaks and sleep as time allows."

  Mario nodded slightly and disappeared. Levi hung back for a second, and Abby glanced at him. "You really don't know that vampire?" He couldn't read the tone in her voice.

  "Did you run it through your system?" He didn't hesitate in his answer this time. Without Mario there, there was no second guessing himself.

  "I did, and a lot of the information on him his redacted. Nick thinks it's because the vampire might have ties to the Vampire King. And I don't have the ability to access any information on the Vampire King at all."

  That explains why she had searched for the king. "If that vampire is involved with the King then you need to stay away from the case. Your last case where someone was involved with the King almost got you killed. Twice." It was the best warning he could give her without demanding that she left the case.

  "Once, I was perfectly safe the other time," she corrected, but he wasn't sure if she had been perfectly safe with Oliver or not. "Levi, you can't hide information from me. I have fifteen dead bodies that might be connected to this vampire, sixteen unsolved murders counting the original woman found in the basement. If you know something, I need to know."